BIOGRAPHIES: John F. MILLER, Cumberland, Barron County, WI

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**Posted for informational purposes only - poster is not related to the 
subject of this biography and has no further information.

John F. Miller, merchant, Cumberland, Barron county, comes of a family whose 
ancestors were Germans for many generations, and teachers by occupation and 
who resided in the village of Fallinbostel, Hanover. Their grandfather 
Miller taught the village school and reached a green old age. He had a 
family of three children, Herman, Catharina and another daughter. Herman was 
an employe in a powder-mill, and was killed in an explosion when our subject 
was but fifteen months old. John F. Miller was born April 9, 1836. He came to 
Carver county, Minn., in August, 1857, with his mother, stepfather, one 
brother and two sisters. His mother was Sophie Elling, and died at the age of 
eighty years, lacking one month. Our subject, John F. Miller, enjoyed the 
privilege of the public schools in Germany, but received no school advantages 
in the United States. He had learned the trade of a tailor in Germany, but 
never followed it in this country. The first work that he did in Minnesota was 
on the railroad. That winter he cleared up land at home, and the following 
spring found work on a farm near Stillwater, at nine dollars per month. That 
autumn he helped his father clear land, and in the spring of 1859 worked in a 
brick-yard at Chaska for twelve dollars per month. His wages were soon raised 
to thirteen dollars, and the second year he procured the position of foreman 
and remained in that capacity for four years.

The next step was his marriage, May 1, 1865, with Miss Catharine Huser, a 
native of Alsace, France. This union was blessed with eleven children, namely: 
Ida, Anna, Fred W., Lydia, Mary, Clara, William, Albert, Ella, Belle and Ernest. 
After his marriage Mr. Miller settled down in Carver, Carver county, Minn., 
where he started a brickyard of his own, and was quite successful in the three 
years he operated it. He afterward removed to Cedar Lake, Hennepin county, where 
he was superintendent of the brick-yard for Hill, Griggs & Co., also bought about 
60,000 cords of wood per year. He was in the employment of the company for about 
six years. Then in partnership with Col. C. W. Griggs he continued the wood 
business at Montrose on the Manitoba, now the Great Northern railroad. They 
shipped most of the wood to St. Paul, and in connection with that business 
conducted a general store. In 1880 Mr. Miller removed to Cumberland, where he had 
found a new supply of wood, where they operated till 1887. Since that time Mr. 
Miller has been engaged in the timber business principally, having bought a steam 
saw-mill.

The firm is now known as the Beaver Dam Lumber Co., with C. W. Griggs, pres.; 
J. F. Miller, vice-pres., and A. G. Foster, treas. The annual amount of lumber cut 
is about 12,000,000 feet per year. They employ about 125 men. A large company 
store was built in 1881, which is the largest store in the town. Mr. Miller 
started the Bank of Cumberland in October, 1883, with J. T. Heath, but since 1887 
he has been sole proprietor. Mr. Miller has been a very successful business man, 
and A. A.-----A. A. marks his financial standing in the reference book of the 
lumber mercantile association. In the affairs of the town he has taken an active 
part, and as he has acquired considerable property in and around the village of 
Cumberland, he has laid out and platted the best part of the same. The poor German 
lad who immigrated to America in 1857 was rich in integrity, industry, and those 
qualifications which if put to a proper use will bring rich returns, and he enjoys 
the respect and esteem of his fellow men in all walks of life to an unusual degree, 
and deserves all the success he has achieved.

-Transcribed from the "Historical and Biographical Album of the Chippewa 
Valley Wisconsin, 1891-2", page 435-436.